Darbyism and Its New Bible/Justification by faith
JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH.
Next to the foregoing, perhaps the subject of justification by faith takes the chiefest place in Christianity. With St. Paul nothing is more prominent or important; he makes it the foundation stone of his epistles to the Romans and Galatians. Yet this great subject now receives an entirely new meaning—a meaning which preserves the grammatical construction just the same, but wholly different in sense. We are told that, “by faith” means “on the principle of faith,” and God is justifying us on a principle. This, if true, alters the meaning of every passage, and the subject must be looked upon in another light altogether, and in a way more free and easy—a sort of “reading-made-easy.” If, on the other hand, it be not true, then it vitiates and distorts every passage, to the utter destruction of the doctrine and the subject. But before saying more, we shall give twelve quotations from Mr. Darby’s New Testament. They are given in English and French, that the reader may be able to judge for himself on the evidence, and are as follows. The French renderings are within brackets:
1. “For righteousness of God is revealed therein on the principle of faith to faith (sur le principe de la foi): according as it is written, But the just shall live by faith.” (Rom. i. 17.)
2. “Since indeed it is one God who shall justify the circumcision on the principle of faith, etc. (sur le principe de la foi.”) (Rom. iii. 30.)
3. “For law works wrath, but where no law is neither is there transgression. Therefore it is on the principle of faith (sur le principe de la foi), that it might be according to grace.” (Rom. iv. 16.)
4. “Therefore having been justified on the principle of faith (sur le principe de la foi), we have peace toward God,” etc. (Rom. v. 1.)
5. “What then shall we say, that they of the nations who did not follow after righteousness have attained righteousness, but the righteousness that is on the principle of faith (sur le principe de la foi). But Israel pursuing after righteousness has not attained to that law. Wherefore? Because it was not on the principle of faith, but as of works.” (Rom. ix. 30-32.)
6. “We also have believed on Jesus Christ, that we might be justified on the principle of faith (sur le principe de la foi) of Christ and not of works of law: because on the principle of works of law no flesh shall be justified.” (Gal. ii. 16.)
7. “Know then that they that are on the principle of faith (sur le principe de la foi), these are Abraham’s sons. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the nations on the principle of faith, announced be forehand the glad tidings to Abraham, etc. etc. So that they who are on the principle of faith(sur le principe de la foi) are blessed with believing Abraham.” (Gal. iii, 7–9.)
8. “But that by law no one is justified with God is evident, because the just shall live on the principle of faith (sur le principe de la foi), but the law is not on the principle of faith (sur le principe de la foi).” (Gal. iii. 11, 12.)
9. “But the Scripture has shut up all things under sin, that the promise on the principle of faith (sur le principe de la foi) of Jesus Christ should be given to those that believe.” (Gal. iii. 22.)
10. “So that the law has been our tutor up to Christ,that we might be justified on the principle of faith (sur le principe de la foi).” (Gal. iii. 24.)
11. “For we by the spirit on the principle of faith (sur le principe de la foi) await the hope of righteousness.” (Gal. v. 5.)
12. “Ye see that a man is justified on the principle of works (par les œuvres) and not on the principle of faith only (par la foi).” (James, ii, 24.)
In Mr. Darby’s commentary the same idea is given out: “The principle on which it (the Gospel) is announced, is faith.” “This righteousness is on the principle of faith.” (“Synopsis,” vol. iv. p. 123.) These passages read as if God were acting on a principle in His mode of justifying sinners; and that sinners are acting on a principle in accepting the method which God puts before them—the principle of faith. Thus, faith is a principle—God is acting on it, and the sinner is acting on it, and both are agreed; and this is justification on the principle of faith and such is the force and meaning of “by faith” (ek pisteos). By this method one has only to come to the conclusion, that as he credits the principle on which God is acting, and consents to it, he is all right. Both God and he are agreed on the principle, and his mind may be at rest; there need be no more about it—peace, peace!
A more effectual or scientific method of inculcating antinomianism could not well be devised. It is the old Walkerite view revived, of “crediting a testimony and consenting to a proposition,” a method by which the Gospel is used as a salve to ease the conscience, whilst the person is still left where he was before—a person of the world. And this method of Gospel preaching has been adopted by many for years, and furnishes a ready mode of conversion, with which Satan has little or no controversy, as it can always be “anon with joy received.” It is, therefore, no wonder that with these parties the life of faith is considered far better expressed by “taking a right Church position,” and by “standing on true church ground,” than in all other matters put together,or in Christian experience of any kind.
Now, if we adopt a similar rendering to this in other vital passages, and on other subjects, how will it be? For instance, “the new birth.” Thus, “Except a man be born on the principle of (ek) water and the Spirit, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” “That which is born on the principle of the flesh, is flesh,” &c. “Which were born not on the principle of blood, nor on the principle of man, nor on the principle of the will of the flesh, but on the principle of God.” (John, i. 13.) “He that committeth sin, is on the principle of the devil,” &c., and so on.
Here the grammar and construction are preserved just as in the former, but the sense and meaning entirely altered. Now, there is just as much truth in saying, one is born on a principle, as in saying, one is justified on a principle. It has no foundation whatever save in the author’s imagination—none whatever from the original language.
ANSWER.
In no case does the term, “by faith” refer to God, as if God were acting on a principle. The term cannot possibly refer to God. Neither does it mean that a sinner in believing is acting on a principle. A sinner, when his eyes are open to his sins, knows nothing of principles; he simply takes bold of an object with all his soul. It is not merely that he credits a testimony on a principle, or is at agreement with the principle on which God is acting; but he grasps a revelation with all the strength of his soul, and makes the object of that revelation his own. This is faith and justification “by faith.” Of course, God in all His works and ways acts on a principle, and He had His own ways and principles in elaborating the ground of this justification; but that is not at all found or expressed in the term, “by faith,” and is another matter. Had the apostle meant such a doctrine, he would have used other terms,as in the following: “These all died according to faith” (kata pistin). “Now walkest thou not according to charity” (katu agapen). (Heb. xi, 13—Rom. xiv. 15.) But here the original preposition is quite different: whereas, “by faith” (ek pisteos) means faith as just described, the preposition signifying “out of,” as from within (ex Lat.) The term, “by faith,” often contrasts with “by law,” as the subjective ground of justification; because both look to the subjective side of the question, as it is said, “not by works of law but by faith of Jesus Christ.” Hence in Rom. iii. 30, “Seeing it is one God who shall justify the circumcision by faith, and the uncircumcision through faith.” In this passage, “by faith,” in reference to the Jew, contrasts with, “by the law” (ek tou nomou), the previous source from which the Jew expected righteousness. Whereas the gentile, who had not the law previously, was simply justified “through faith” (diatespisteos), or by means of faith. Thus the verse becomes quite clear, and beautifully expresses the antecedents of both parties. [See also Rom. x. 5, 6—Gal. ii. 16, etc. etc.] The preposition “by” (ek) refers to the internal source out from which God and Christ are taken hold of by the soul, and the revelation of God made one’s own. Many prepositions are used, with the word “faith” in the New Testament, and all with a view to intensity; but Mr. Darby’s rendering eviscerates all its force from it, and wrests the Scriptures.
Had the Romish theologians in the sixteenth century made the discovery that “justification by faith” was justification “on a principle,” they would have made short work with poor Martin Luther, who staked his all in this—“the just shall live by faith.” They had only to show it was, with God and man, a principle in common with other principles, such as the principle of charity or the principle of works (as above, No. 12), or the principle of baptismal regeneration—the last notably so; as to enter the kingdom of God, a man must be “born on the principle of (ek) water and the spirit;” adopting of course a like rendering in both cases. By this method their triumph had been complete, as in this way their proofs would be more distinct and pronounced, and the text which braved the storms of the Reformation had been shivered at a blow!